


Promise

by couqhdrop



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe- Villain, Chosen One, Crossover, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Friends to Enemies, Redemption, Villains to Heroes, i said i wasn't going to do this but here I AM, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:36:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29529279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/couqhdrop/pseuds/couqhdrop
Summary: Quasimodo and Madellaine grew up together. They did everything by each other's side.But in the Horde, they also had to fight for control of Etheria, a land of insurgent magic.When Madellaine discovers a piece of her destiny in the Whispering Woods, she must face a difficult decision. Should she follow her calling to be the warrior Etheria needs or stick by her closest friend and aide in the destruction of the planet she holds dear?
Relationships: Adora/Catra (Referenced), Quasimodo/Madellaine
Comments: 43
Kudos: 6





	1. Anyone Seen Quasi?

**Author's Note:**

> I was torn. I wanted to write a story about Catra and Adora, but then I thought about how interesting of a villain I could turn Quasi into given the proper circumstances, and I wanted to do an enemies to lovers sort of thing with them. I LOVE She-Ra, I liked the 80's one of course, but the Netflix original take on it stole my heart and I wanted to give my own little twist to the story. I promise I'll explain it thoroughly, you don't need to be a fan of The Hunchback of Notre Dame OR She-Ra to understand the plot. 
> 
> Yes, the plot really isn't my own, I'm practically inserting Quasi and Madellaine into Catra and Adora's spots, but I will add my own twists, I promise. Also Quasi will not be a cat-man, though the thought is cute. I mean Adora and Madellaine are both clumsy blonde-haired blue-eyed women so I mean... It's almost necessary for me to make this.
> 
> This MAY be short or extremely overly long, we'll see lol.
> 
> In any case, if you like this story and haven't seen She-Ra, I recommend you watch it on Netflix.

Those who felt like a speck of limelight in the world have never dwelled on Etheria. 

On Etheria, you didn't know who your true enemy was. Whether you strove for control and order amongst the Horde or fought for independence and freedom with the Rebellion, you were a cog in the grand scheme of someone's plan. Madellaine knew this. But Claude Frollo had raised her to be a cutthroat, ruthless warrior, to lead the heart of the Horde's glory to victory. It was all she thought she wanted.

From the moment she could truly convert her small thoughts into speech, she croaked out how much the Horde had meant to her and how much she wanted to safeguard and defend it. 

As Madellaine's eyes twinkled in the spotlight, billows of electric ambition forging her path to success, her pleasing vorfreudes of her and her best friend's future appeared right in front of her. She tucked a wisp of her misty blonde hair from her marine-colored eyes and slid her cufflet onto her wrist. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a splotch of scratched inky black hair, and she turned her attention to one of her biggest ever enemies that she had never before come face to face with. Her commanders had pictures of the Rebellion's insurgent princesses all over her home, the Fright Zone, to remind their cadets who their true enemies were. And this was Madellaine's least favorite of them all.

Princess _Esmeralda. Of Bright Moon. The one with the sparkles._

"Hey, _princess_ ," Madellaine hissed in between her gritted teeth, "You looking at me?"

She aimed her overly-long fingernails and scraped at the tanned princess's _stupid_ sparkly face and her _stupid_ sparkly cape. Esmeralda had the reputation of a violent instigator in the Horde, prone to obnoxious battle-cries and overuse of unfair magic during quarrels. Completely disorderly and immature, in Madellaine's opinion, though she had never seen it first-hand.

"Hmph!" she turned up her nose.

_"All squadrons report to training area immediately for evaluation!"_

"It's time for evaluation already?" she muttered, "I suppose he's going to be late. As always."

Just as she had expected, when she arrived she hadn't seen that familiar hunched over figure amongst her team idling by, waiting for the simulation to commence. She stepped onto her podium, the green light below her bouncing off of her armor and searing against the metal doorway. The spot beside her was vacant, but she could see her teammates Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie whispering amongst one another.

"Hey, have any of you seen Quasi?"

Lonnie, a brave, but short girl with lovely mahogany dreadlocks shrugged her shoulders. Kyle looked like he was about to cry, as always. He had this punchable expression on his face, wooden-colored eyes always brimmed with non-existent tears. Quasimodo had always told Madellaine that he wanted to hit the pitiful demeanor right out of his lanky body. Rogelio, stong and silent as always, just lingered there. Madellaine never thought she ever overheard the reptilian-like creature ever utter a word. 

Quasi was truly onerous. Was he pining for Frollo's wrath? How long could she keep _protecting_ him?

" _Hey_ , Madellaine."

Earnest, sturdy arms coiled around the young cadet's torso, and the bassist humming in her ears registered than none other than her best friend Quasimodo, a young man built exquisitely in body and in character. A young man she had been raised alongside, someone she rode her entire merit on defending. Frollo didn't take too kindly to his wit, believing it did not belong to a disfigured face such as his. Quasi didn't have the same defense as Rogelio did, for he was a human, and he was _expected_ to look like one. Nobody knew if he had been _born_ that way or not, but he was intimidating enough to deter people from emptying their breath asking. His fate was a tacenda and he used his corporeal fervor at times to uphold that. Frollo didn't want such a scarred face to spy upon him in the Fright Zone, but when his little blonde junior cadet took a liking to his unusualness, he allowed him to stay. On the surface, it didn't faze the young man. He could fight for the Horde pretty damn well if he did say so himself, and that was what he invariably reinstated. According to him, there wasn't _time_ to be vulnerable and insecure.

He was _fine_ but nobody believed him.

Nobody could seem to pry beyond that smug little simper, a rogue, yet ample enough fissure; and only Madellaine had truly seen what was behind his closed shutters.

"Late again, hm?"

"Mhmm," he seized his place beside her, though closer than was really necessary, the cyclical sashaying of the opaque, red locks upon his head never failing to anesthetize the young woman into a damnable stupor. She had to focus, damn it, but how could she prevent him double-crossing her during hand-to-hand combat when he was just so... 

"At attention, cadets!"

Madellaine, true to her character, snapped her focus forward to meet the gaze of their trainer, Sinch, but Quasi just snickered. She was truly an enigma. Why did she care this much about this stuff?

"Senior cadets, in one week, we have seen much improvement with your training. Simulations showed your strength, your cunning, and your skill, and Lord Frollo couldn't be more proud of each and every one of you. Well, _virtually_ all of you."

"My name is _Quasimodo_ , why don't you spell it out since you enjoy being so _vague_."

"Quasi," Madellaine's chapped words didn't seem to budge the young man, and she figured it would be as such.

"Do not be flippant with _me_ , cadet," Sinch hissed, "Or I will be forced to report such insubordination to Frollo himself."

"What's he going to do? Scar my perfect little face?"

Lonnie giggled slightly, but Madellaine brought her knuckle to her quivering mouth. She was so tired of Quasi getting tangled in these troublesome knots with their mentor, Frollo, and she was tired of severing the binds over and over again. 

"Just keep your lips shut. I am partnering you all up with one another so that you may learn to use a new weapon. Lonnie and Rogelio, Quasimodo and Madellaine, and Kyle..."

"Kyle...?" the young boy repeated, "Kyle and...?"

"Kyle and _himself_ ," Sinch shrugged, "Just practice on one of the robots over there, kid."

"Why do I bother...?" the dishwater blonde mumbled, ambling frustratingly over to the lame-looking synthetic robots. At least he wasn't about to embarrass himself.

"You ready?" Madellaine turned to her partner, her muted pink lips curling up into a teasing smile.

"Ready for what?"

"For me to kick your butt?"

"I'd love to see you try, sweetness," Quasi laughed, gripping his retractable brass rod in his strong hands, "Cmon, let's go!"

Quasi thrust himself forward at his opponent, unable to keep that jayus smirk off of his scarred face, as he clutched her wrists and twirled her round. She wielded her baton in her nimble hands, crying out before pivoting at him, and so narrowly missing. Her eyes pinched up like the tide of her own defeat as she saw him try and take a poke at her chestplate. She hindered his cheeky blow and propelled him backward with a blend between a yell and a grunt, though she still smiled that same wide smile. The olive virescent windows crested on their chestplates still governed ablaze, and the objective was to land a strategic jab of their sizzling rouge metal rods against the small screens to win the fight. 

Madellaine saw his rod go low, and she took the chance to leap onto its end, pinning the tip to the svelte electric floor, but before she could strike him, he harnessed all of his physical strength and rather coarsely tossed her away from him, and she thudded ungracefully to the ground.

"Owww...!" Madellaine whimpered, panting in the midst of her fraudulent injury. His verve flared out quickly when he noticed she was wounded, and he lowered his baton, his exterior yielding for a moment.

"M-Maddie? A-Are you-"

Before he could get the rest of his words out, she giggled and got back up to her feet, sparring herself abreast him, boxing his baton out of his hands and jabbing his chest victoriously.

_Buzz!_

An angry crimson **X** shone upon Quasi's screen, and he crash-landed on the floor, catching himself with his arms. His defeat rang out before him on the speakers, and he tried to plaster on an indifferent air, though inside, he cursed her out with every colorful word in the book.

"Damn, girl!" Lonnie cheered out, "Good job!"

"You okay?" Madellaine giggled, extending a glassy hand down to help him get back on his feet, and he scoffed and nodded.

"Yeah, but only because I let you win," he gave her shoulder a playful shove,

"Awww, you're cute, Quasi!" Madellaine's muscles were donned with a thick gloss of sweat, and it made Quasi's heart skip a few beats.

"I must say, you're a wonderful actress," he swiped the sweat from his brow.

"Heh. C'mon, let's cool down."

_"Not yet."_

Madellaine drew in what should have been an excited breath, but it came out incorrectly as she came face to face with the man who held her fate in her palms. Lord Frollo.

"Commander Frollo!" she saluted, "Did you see me?"

"Yes," his wrinkled smile and sterling colored hair weren't lost by the young girl, "I see great promise in you. _You_ , on the other hand."

Quasi looked down to the floor, eyes stowed away to the side, breathing superficially. He didn't say anything.

"Mind your sentiments next time, cadet," Frollo sneered at his male ward, and Quasi scoffed.

"Always serving up pep talks, eh Claude?"

 _"Silence,"_ Frollo's acrasian tone shattered the air of glass, grains of aggression swimming around the pair, "Do _not_ address me as such."

Quasi found it adorable that this old man thought he was genuinely afraid of him. He wasn't a _boy_ anymore. He stood there, coordinating all of his weight on one of his feet, inclining against the wall.

"Madellaine," Claude turned his wiry gaze onto the girl, who stood there skittishly, "Walk with me."


	2. Force Captain

"Lord Hordak has been watching you, my dear."

Acatalepsy was the one thing that Madellaine truly conjectured about the man- _or thing_ \- in the administration of the Horde. Pure unbridled misunderstanding. She had never seen him, never spoken to him, only ever heard his voice rumbling over the intercom about failure like vengeful fulmination. Bitter, grave, almost... almost sad. But she still _feared_ Hordak. No matter how enigmatic he seemed to be. Nobody knew where he came from or why he had founded the Horde, but there was no need to ask. It didn't assist with training, so it was useless.

"Lord Hordak, commander?"

"Oh, yes. He's very impressed by your numbers. You've beaten nearly every other cadet in your squadron in hand-to-hand combat and simulations of battle."

"Well, with all due respect... Quasi has been working really hard too," she felt her voice tampered with exhaustion, though her need to uphold Quasimodo's honor blotted away at the underlying frustration of it all "He's the only one who can beat me."

"I haven't seen that young... _thing_ beat you at anything," Frollo reprimanded, and his unfair tone wilted in the air as slow as clay dried out of the oven. She didn't know what to say to that. She ached to show him that her closest confidante was worthy of Claude's praise, but it almost felt like a long-shot. No, it _was_ a long-shot. It was his unusual appearance and sweltering ire that put him in Claude's shadow, and she didn't want to tell him, but he was nearing a point where he was becoming unteachable. He was just so stubborn. He didn't want to follow after anyone or anything. But she still had to _try_.

"Oh, yes!" she smiled, "Just last week during our last full-scale simulation, he took down two orbicular bots with his bare hands and helped me escape being swallowed up by the trapdoors. He may be... temperamental, commander, but I promise you he's worth your time."

Frollo remained silent. He stopped and grabbed the girl's cufflet, not enough to hurt, but enough to radiate enough urgency to make her halt as well. 

"Madellaine, my dear," he got to eye-level with her, "To be successful one must keep their emotions in check. Your friend whom you take pity on isn't ready for this. But _you_ are."

"Ready? Ready for what?"

"Lord Hordak has approved my pending proposal to elect you in charge of leading a squadron in the invasion of the rebel fortress of Thaymor."

"Really? We-we're finally seeing active duty?" she sounded so chipper, and it was quite unlike her usual self.

"No, dear, you are. Hordak thinks you are a fine candidate for Force Captain. This is _your_ chance to prove yourself."

There was a pulsating warmth of a virescent-lemon tinted badge in her hands, marked with the Horde's insignia. The girl looked down, almost appalled in the best way that she had gotten this at _eighteen_ , such a ripe age for a young Horde cadet. Force Captain... Force Captain _Madellaine_. It tasted delicious as she swirled it around in her mind like a golden coin, and the warmth in her hand spread throughout her chest in kin with her rapidly beating heart. 

" _Thank you_ , commander!" she breathed, almost like a mouse, and her hands trembled in anticipation as he pinned the badge to her carmine blazer, "I will not let you down!"

"I expect nothing less," Frollo's clarity was much less difficult to penetrate than usual. It was plain that he was proud of her, that all of her hard work had ultimately paid off. "I saw talent in you since I found you. This is exactly what I have raised you for, Madellaine."

Madellaine had been persisting every thought there, idling in the middle of the hallway even long after her mentor left, staring out the window of her new empire. She was one Force Captain amongst a scarce few, but the swell of stamina and drive she got when the artificial light filtered through her new badge, the very small thing she had put her entire life's worth of energy into... 

"Hey, Madellaine," Quasi's call wasn't as unrefined as it usually was, and Madellaine looped herself around to meet his cerulean eyes. If fire could blaze below permafrost without melting the ever-still tender glaze, it would have been found only in Quasi's eyes. She saw that underneath his sheets of brashness and triviality, he was a gorgeous soul, almost tragic in a way, and for whatever reason, she was the only one he could soften up around.

"What was that about?" he strode further to her, "What did he say about me this time?"

"Nothing, Quasi," she was fizzing like their rationed carbonated lemon-water, the only real drink besides water at the Horde, and he didn't quite notice her new badge until it arrested the light in such a way that his breath was stolen away.

"No way!" he glittered, grasping her shoulders and tugging her close to him in a tight embrace, "You've been promoted!"

"I..." she laughed, "Yeah! After so long!"

"We're going to see the world! And conquer it! Together, just like we've always planned...!"

He rambled on and on, and Madellaine hadn't the heart to set him off course and tell him that the promotion hadn't been extended towards him. She gnawed on her tongue, wanting to sponge on the bad news in a way that wouldn't make him angry. He seemed so excited and it pulverized her to say this, but...

"Quasi, about that..." she whispered, "Commander Frollo isn't allowing you to come along with me to Thaymor."

He suspended his pacing and the cry of his boots against the wax floor made her grit her teeth a bit, the sound interposing with her concentration.

"What? Seriously?"

"I-I tried to talk him into it, but he wouldn't budge..."

He knitted his brows, salted with perspiration from his spar with Lonnie after Madellaine had left with their mentor, and he honestly wanted to yell in frustration. He was just as well-built as his friends, if not even more, and his deformities didn't weigh him down in the slightest when it came to his tact in battle and combat. He was strong as Hades, and still, he couldn't get a chance to prove himself? He was weary of examining the same steel walls, trapped in the Horde's brig for all of his days. He had memorized every muted-green bolt and seam, knew every corridor and every shortcut. He had never even seen anything beyond the Fright Zone, and neither had Madellaine, but was she truly to return to him one day having experienced all he yearned for?

"Why won't he just give me a chance?" Quasi hissed, the crass acoustics of his voice invading his excitement, and Madellaine's buzzing dwindled like her friend's dying flame of hope.

"Well," she wanted to tell him that Frollo thought he was hideous, but that would be... too far. She could verse herself better.

"I mean, if he only saw me, Madellaine, just once!"

"Well, Quasi, to be fair... you are kind of disrespectful."

"Why should I respect _him?_ "

"He's your commanding officer, Quasi," she set an unsure hand on his toned shoulder, "I understand your frustration, but-"

"He's just bitter!" he barked, "Bitter that he has no power that doesn't come from Hordak! Everyone knows that Madellaine. I'm so sick of being treated like I'm second best!"

"I know, Quasi, I understand..."

"How could you understand?" he scoffed, "You're his _favorite_ , Madellaine. His little _pet_."

"I am not his- Quasi, wait!"

_Madellaine had known Quasi's insecurity from the moment she first laid eyes on him. She barely retained her first encounter with him, it was as hazy as the mist that locked the Fright Zone away from the rest of Etheria, keeping it hidden well enough to prevent invasion. She had been four years old when she bumped into the tattered, waterlogged cardboard box, and she heard a yelp when she tumbled straight over it. It wasn't her lamentation of pain. Frollo had commanded her not to transpire near the back entrance of the Fright Zone or she would have to run laps around the arena, but Lonnie had dared her to roam the dimly kindled hallways and see if there were any apparitions lingering there, so she did._

_"Oww!"_

_"Wha...?"_

_The young toddler peered down into the dilapidations of the box. She half-expected to see a ghost, just as Lonnie had warned, but instead... it was just a little boy. Another human, by the looks of it._

_"Who are you...?" little Maddie cooed._

_The red-haired boy stayed unquestionably hushed, instead, he simply quivered and hastened away from this stranger, and she didn't understand why he was so scared of her._

_"I'm Madellaine..." she offered her stubby arm to the poor abandoned thing, who looked hungry and... scarred. Was he hurt? "Whas your name?"_

_"I dunno..."_

_"Well, you gotsta have a name, silly!"_

_"Mommy never gave me one."_

Madellaine knew him too well. She knew he'd have surmounted up onto their terrace, the spot they had sat upon watching the world slowly scrape by for years. Fourteen years, they had gathered up there together, shared conversations, giggles, grievous tears, and simple tender moments. As long as they were by each other's side, it seemed as though nothing truly mattered. Nothing withered away between them. They fought and they made up, time after time, and Madellaine knew there was nothing that they couldn't mend betwixt their affection for one another and their ambition of ruling Etheria together. That was their mutual chimera, their dream, but they weren't children any longer. Did they have time? Would he truly never get a chance?

"Quasi..."

His pout lanced open the filaments of her heart, blue and grey, and she clicked her tongue and hopped up on the railing beside him.

"Come on," she sighed, "I didn't even think you wanted to be a Force Captain..."

"I _don't_ ," he bit at her with his gaze.

"Look, I've been working for this my entire life..." she coaxed, "I was thinking you could be happy for me."

His fire steamed as she froze him over. She was the innocuous ice on the seas, crisp and noiseless and effervescent. _Damn her_ for calming him down. He wanted to be angry, but he just... couldn't stay angry. Not at her. 

"I am, Maddie..." he curled his knees close to his chest, "I am. I'm just... Why is it always you...?"

"I don't know," Madellaine had to lie. She knew why she was favored. She was compliant, passionate, and pretty, the perfect bauble for the Horde's cause. The perfect face of order. But Quasi was just too rogue. Too rogue, too unusual. 

She understood why Frollo was so close-minded, but she didn't understand why it had to be that way. _She_ liked Quasi. Why couldn't anyone else? It would save him quite a bit of heartache...

"I just want to get out of here, I can't stand another minute here without knowing what's out there."

Madellaine smirked, digging into her pocket past the empty foil wrappers for their ration bars, and Quasi turned his head at the dizzy racket of jingling keys. 

"Why don't we go find out?"

* * *

_"Whassa mommy?"_

_The young boy's pupils simmered into a quiet boil of intimidation now, and he plodded just a bit closer to the girl, "You know. Mommy?"_

_"No...?"_

_"Mommy's gone," he squinted, "Daddy's gone too."_

_Madellaine didn't like not understanding him. Instead of prying further, she got up on the treads of her tiny little shoes and hauled the fellow four-year-old to his feet. He bobbled somewhat like a slicked-up knick-knack, and Madellaine snickered._

_"Wannabe my friend, no-name?"_

_"...okay."_

_Little Madellaine had found more than just a poltergeist that day. She found a lifelong friend._

* * *

"Okay, I take it all back! You're _awesome!_ I can't believe you stole a skiff!"

"Borrowed, Quasi!" she chided. Breaking the rules felt like cleaving off a glutinous plaster, but she couldn't bear to see her best friend so despondent. She'd steal the entire Horde's naval armada for him, but it still left her worried beyond reason. Madellaine, the girl who couldn't even relax when free amongst the armies of mythic trees and perfumed vines, quasars of what was left of Etheria's magic wafting aimlessly around her vessel.

"I've always wanted to drive one of these!" he laughed, "Here, gimme!"

"Whoa there, save us enough fuel to get back!"

"That is a problem for _future_ Maddie and Quasi."

Creatures of every shape and size scuttled round at the swelling cadence of the two squabbling over control over for the steering, the ship curtseying around in mid-air as it fluctuated between speedy and chaotic to desperate and controlled. 

_"I'm driving!"_

_"I want it!"_

_"Madellaine!"_

_"No, I've got it!"_

_"Let me!"_

_"No, wait!"_

"WHOA, stop, stop!"

The skiff careened to a halt, and Madellaine was thrown back with the unexpectedness of it.

"What?!" Quasi half-panted and half-hollered. 

"We can't go in there! It's the Whispering Woods!"

"Uh... so?"

"They say the trees move when you turn your backs. Horde cadets that go in there have never been seen coming back out..."

There was a pause. They could hear just about every noise the enchanted realm decided to extract. The scurrying of tiny creatures all around, the rolling of pebbles across the crystallized grass and dirt, the murmuring of unexplainable things. Madellaine swallowed hard, her earshot corresponding with the sickening pulsing of blood in her ears, as though her heart had inflamed itself up into her head. She knew exactly what he was going to say next.

"Let's go in."

"No, wait-"

"YES! I'M ALIVE!" Quasi cried, racing past trees and shrubs as wild as he could make the vessel go.

"Bossy..." Madellaine mumbled under her breath, "I am going to be so mad at you if we get murdered!"

"Who cares?! Loosen up! We're ALIVE! Feel that wind in your hair Madellaine! That's LIFE!"

Disaster was bound to happen, Madellaine _knew_ it.

"Quasi, please slow down! Before you hit a- ugh!"

Before either of them kenned it, a swaying bluish-red vine picked the girl by the column of her neck, seizing her from the skiff and sending her cruising down to the terrain several feet below them. Quasi couldn't make the ship stop in time, and so it teetered back and forth as he let go of the gearshift and called out to her; as if it would help her sprout wings and soar down to her safety.

_"Madellaine!"_


	3. The Sword of Protection

The segue from dizzying oblivion, deadweight trices of unbeing induced upon the Force Captain by an inebriating blow to her head felt more like _hours_ than seconds. Her energy annealed like fine glass, and it threatened to shatter to bits if she sat up too promptly. Her joints felt as if they had been influenced by ebullition, especially that of her hip, which throbbed like the soundwaves that came just to her right. It felt like she had been submersed into lukewarm, somewhat tempered saltwater, and she had no direction which way was _up_ , which course to swim. A gale of the aromatic timber's wind cooled off her skin as she shifted onto one elbow, and then onto her knee. The centerpiece of her focus was now drawn onto a... an auricomus glow? _No, sapphire... baby blue...?_

Blue. Much like the hue of her best friend's eyes. 

The flush of imperial azure was like a beacon, and Madellaine couldn't see where it was coming from, hedges of purple and deep jungle green leaves obstructing her view. Her head throbbed with the fury of a thousand angels as she tried her best to get her vision to clarify what she was seeing. 

"Quasi...?" she croaked in her tattered voice.

When no response came, she decided she'd have to figure her own way to stand back up. Perhaps her body was just being melodramatic. After all, it hadn't been that stubborn of a fall, had it? 

_Did he leave without me? Is he coming back?_

Someway, somehow, she made it onto her feet, the rubber soles of her footwear excavating into the powder-like soil. _Damn_ , her head _hurt!_

_If he doesn't come back with the skiff soon, I'm done for! I-I'll eat his ration bars for a week, damn it!_

And then, she saw it. A piece of her destiny. 

The most outlandish part was, she could feel it. Deep within the cortical scaffoldings and deep canals of her very bones, whatever this thing was, it was significant. It felt like she was staring in a _mirror_ , it felt so connected to her. She tasted the resin in the back of her throat, coating it into congested mayhem as she attempted to get any form of word out. 

It was a sword. A sword? In the middle of the _woods?_

_"_ What...?" she edged closer to the thing, which irradiated the depths of the forest so keenly, she had to squint her eyes and breathe through her nose. The leal chatoyant surges of light emanated from the long, silvery-gunmetal blade, encrusted with a gilded winged handle and a glossy cyan opal right in the heart. It left her in a stupefied reverie, the quiddity of the apparently enchanted weapon seeming to not need an introduction before she reached out a fingertip to touch it. The skin of her hand only came within a fingerbreadth of the cap of the handle before it cast out an ignition of white-hot light, and she hadn't even been able to let out a gasp before she was engulfed in it entirely.

Vision was not unearthed. Not wherever she was now.

She detected an elysian voice ringing out to her, clustering her in rising heat, and if there was a dryad of the Whispering Woods, Madellaine was _certain_ she had met her.

_Balance must be restored!_

_Etheria must seek a hero!_

_Madellaine..._

_Madellaine!_

"...hey, Madellaine! Madellaine!!"

Prying her eyes open, the rinds of her short-lived sleep pasting her lashes together, her gaze swam until Quasi brought the tip of his nose to the girl's, trying to see if she was awake.

Madellaine looked at him in absolute acatalepsy as he stirred back and forth in front of her ruined retinas. Each reflection of him simmered down into one as the clarity of her vision surmised an acceptable answer for her. Or not. Had that sword been a dream? It had felt so unmistakeably real...

"Ugh... Quasi...?"

"Maddie?" his voice was chipper, relieved.

"What... what happened?"

He smirked and scoffed, flipping a piece of her hair out of her eyes, " _You_ fell out of a skiff after you _drove_ it into a tree."

"No, _you_ drove it into a tree!"

He squealed in wonderment as she playfully shoved him off of her. "Ah.. up for debate. Come on, let's go."

"Wait, wait Quasi!" she had to seize onto his fortified biceps to keep her legs from buckling. He clutched onto her trembling waist, notching his fingers on her slightly slackened belt so that she didn't fall.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Where... where is it...?" she squeaked.

"What?" he half-laughed, half-snorted.

The requiem knells of the god-like voice were still slick in her aching brain, and she desperately craned her head side to side, trying in vain to find the sword which had been glowing so fervently moments prior.

"The sword! Where'd it go?"

"What the _heck_ are you talking about?"

"There was a sword!!" she insisted, looking him dead in the eye, "It was right here! I tried to touch it, but then it got really bright, and-"

"Oh, no..." he uttered, charging her smooth chin up with the pads of his fingers, "You hit your head! Are you feeling okay? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three, and I didn't hit my head!" she asserted once more, "It was here... I _saw_ it..."

Her eyes were... almost _luminous_. More so than usual, though he'd never admit to looking long enough to heed the tint of the couthy sapphire in her vessels of sight. Her honeyed, luscious lips always looked so kissable, but he'd never even admit that to _himself_.

"Well..." he muttered, softly grabbing her hand, "There's nothing here now. So come on, let's go."

The last thing she could remember was meeting her gaze to the spot where the sword once lay.

And she swore the grass had been rustled hastily. There _unquestionably_ had been something there.

* * *

* * *

Quasi and Madellaine could not sleep without one another. Quasi had too many irksome nightmares, and she couldn't get her mind off of work long enough on her own for her cognizance to even become hypnagogic, let alone asleep. When they were children, he used to just sleep at the foot of her bed, as it wasn't considered appropriate by Frollo for them to curl up beside one another the way they wanted to. But after the most tumultuous crying fit Quasi threw when he was seven, Lord Hordak figured there wasn't any harm in letting his two wards seek solace in one another, given how close they seemed to be. 

Now that they were enrolling into adulthood, they still needed one another, and their prevalent, lunar talks to endeavor their bones set in motion into dormancy. It was especially nice now that she had her own room, being a Force Captain and all. Normally they'd sleep in files and rows of linoleum bunk beds, all gorged into one lousy scented room. 

But Madellaine's room smelled of fresh rubber boots, peppermint sticks, and warm summer's nights... And so did she.

"Madellaine...?"

"Mmm?"

"Are you okay?"

Madellaine shut her eyes and pulled the covers over them, "Mhm."

"You're shaking."

"Just cold..." she mumbled, licking her fingers through her hair one last time before settling beside him.

_And frightened..._ she mused, _What was that thing? How did it know my name? I don't... I don't usually have dreams like this. I don't dream at all. Why on Etheria would it feel so authentic if it was nothing to worry about? Can I really sleep tonight knowing what's out there? Who was that woman, why did she know my name? Is Quasi right, did I just hit my head too hard? What would Commander Frollo think of this behavior? Should I... Should I take another look?_

"Alright, if you say so," he whispered, smoothing down her hair and pulling her as close to her as he figured was necessary. "Night, Maddie."

"Goodnight..."

Nescience made Madellaine discouraged. She couldn't bear not having an answer for something. It made her feel stupid, incapable of her position. All she estimated she could do was close her eyes and hearken to Quasi's heartbeat. It sounded lovely... But not lovely enough to get the sword absent from her mind. 

Eventually, he fell asleep, though she figured it wouldn't last long, so she just settled to lay dormant until one of his night-terrors tore him from his doze. Like an orchestra, she kept hearing that onerous voice flicker around in the foregrounds of her recollection, and they began to get louder and louder... It was terrifying. It was real. How was she supposed to lay siege to Thaymor at dawn if she was to be lacerated by such horrors like this all night long?

_Madellaine._

_Madellaine..._

_Madellaine._

_Madellaine..._

_Madellaine!_

_MADELLAINE!_

She couldn't do this. She had to go back out there and see the sword for herself. It was _there_. She could feel it with every dollop of her lifebeing. It was calling to her. It was important...

The one obstacle would be slipping from her friend's tender embrace without rousing him from his sleep.

She tried wiggling, but he winced, so she took a deep breath through her nose and softly caressed his bicep. Much like she predicted, his face went from taut to lulled under her winsome touch, and she smiled a little. Just looking at how tranquil he seemed in his sleep made her heart palpitate much more vigorously. He looked less angry, less troubled, and it made him appear so docile. It would be so easy to kiss him, such a gentle face... but he'd not like that, not at all. Besides, they were friends. Nothing more or less...

Besides, you weren't _allowed_ to fall in love in the Horde. It was too easy for such a temperamental sensation to wound you. Hearts were made to be broken, and love was a surefire way to show the opponent you were vulnerable.

She fluffed a pillow and in one fluid motion, slipped onto the side of the bed and stuffed the pillow in Quasi's arms, to give the deceptive feel of her still against him so that he wouldn't be cold. The chilly tile against her feet sent pulsing waves of frigid shivers all along her limbs until she was able to find her shoes. She took one last glance at him, who lay unchanging, and she smiled. 

Though true to her cursed nature, she managed to jolt into the nightstand while reaching for her taser, and when she heard Quasi moan in mild turmoil, she clenched her eyes shut.

"Where are you going...?" he mumbled

Shit.

"Back to the woods... There's something I have to see."

"What?" he whispered as hushed as he could, but still managed to rattle the blockage in her throat as if he had flat-out _roared_ at her, "Oh no, you're not. Come back to bed, it's cold."

She stood up, "There's no point in reasoning with me... Just cover for me, okay? I'll be back before anyone knows I'm gone..."

As she vanished into the limbo of the darkness engulfing them, he lay there half-asleep, half-bewildered, and all he could manage to do was call out for her.

"Madellaine...? _Madellaine...?!_ "


End file.
